Nonprofit’s Access Network Helps Biomedical Entrepreneurs

A nonprofit
headquartered in Hartford, CT, is helping entrepreneurs–including students
coming out of community colleges–to move their innovative biomedical technology
ideas from concept to reality. Beacon Alliance’s mission is to facilitate the
development of new medical technology. To achieve this goal, the nonprofit
encourages partnering, fosters collaborative research, and conducts seminars on
important topics for entrepreneurs such as intellectual property protection and
FDA regulations.

Beacon
Alliance has formed a preferential access network that links more than 35
academic, medical, and corporate interests. Beacon operates primarily as a
facilitator, connecting its members with the full complement of the joint
resources available through the network.

"The
entrepreneurs who come to us are technically sharp but often have little or no
experience in business,” says Joseph Bronzino, Ph.D., P.E., who founded Beacon
Alliance in 1997. "We help them understand the pieces they have to put in place
to set up a company and move through the various stages of commercialization,
including getting a patent. Then we put them in contact with a network that can
help them put those pieces together.

"We
provide a very important service in the form of due diligence,” explains
Bronzino. "Entrepreneurs really need an analysis of their idea in terms of
what’s already in the marketplace and whether their idea is novel enough to become
marketable and profitable. We assemble a committee to conduct that kind of
analysis

"When we
think there is a sufficient market for the device an entrepreneur wants to
develop, we steer them towards attorneys who can help them protect their
intellectual property,” Bronzino adds. "We encourage them to develop a business
plan and an executive summary, and we arrange meetings with angel investors and
with venture capitalists to see if those funders would be interested in
investing in this product and this company. Finally, we help them apply for a
grant to build a prototype through the federal government’s Small Business
Innovation Research Program.”

Entrepreneurial
opportunities abound in the biomedical technology field, which is one of the
21st century’s growth industries. Typical of the projects that Beacon Alliance
has been involved with is a wound closure device; the nonprofit helped the
group behind this product link with a hospital to do animal studies and once
those were completed, Beacon helped them write an SBIR grant request to support
preclinical trials. Another project has involved a dental product that improves
the efficacy of antibiotics injected into the gums for the treatment of
infection. Beacon helped the entrepreneurs behind this idea set up a company
and is now looking for angel investors to help the company do part of the
product development.

Beacon
Alliance operates primarily in the Knowledge Corridor that runs from Hartford
north through Springfield and Northampton, MA, but also has links with
resources in Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. Bronzino
welcomes the opportunity to consult with people from other parts of the country
on how they might set up a similar organization to promote biomedical
entrepreneurism in their area. To contact Bronzino, e-mail him at
joseph.bronzino@beaconalliance.org or call toll-free 877-723-2266.